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Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown: Production Mistakes and Gracie Paydays Make It Seem More Like World Series Of Folly

Andrei Arlovski wearing a UFC glove in the World Series of Fighting cage showed a lack of experience on the part of the upstart promotion's production staff

By Joshua Molina

In its second show, World Series of Fighting whiffed at the plate.

The problems individually ere relatively small, but collectively, made World Series of Fighting look like World Series of Folly.

Here’s a look at some of the show’s mishaps:

Headliner Andrei Arlovski wore UFC gloves into the fight. That’s right, new promotion allowed its top star to promote its competitor on live TV.

Arlovski’s team tried to cover the logo with a black marker, but it rubbed off during the fight and Arlovski, already struggling to stay relevant, looked like a fool.

Arlovksi is not solely to blame.

The UFC glove on Arlovski is the fault of the person running the backroom. The backstage crew responsible for making sure the fighters are fully prepared to enter the cage dropped the ball.

There should have been a proper inspection to make sure Arlovski was dressed properly and ready to go before he left the backstage and entered the arena.

If WSOF can’t find its top fighter a pair of gloves, what does that say about its ability to handle the rest of the show?

. . . WSOF announcer Todd Harris before a commercial break called Jon Fitch “Eric Fitch.” Fitch, of course, was just signed by WSOF, after he was surprisingly cut by the UFC.

Fitch, a defensive fighter crushed Erick Silva last year, but then lost a boring fight to Demian Maia.

At a minimum, they need to get Fitch’s name right.

. . . The flubs continued when Josh Burkman in his post-fight interview said he didn’t want to fight Fitch, that he wanted a title shot.

Bas Rutten was on point — trying to push a fight between Burkman and Fitch in his questioning.

First of all, WSOF doesn’t have titles. Second, if it were to introduce championships, Fitch would be an obvious person to get a title shot.

Third, Fitch submitted Burkman many moons ago in the UFC. When you are a fighter, don’t duck the guy who beat you. Call him out for a rematch. It’s kind of the manly thing to do.

. . . The Gracie name has about as much drawing power these days as Seth Petruzelli, but somehow these guys manage to get paid exorbitant salaries at these small shows.

At the first WSOF show Gregor Gracie was paid $25,000 for a submission loss. Last Saturday, Igor Gracie took home about $10,000, reportedly, also in a loss, and would have taken home $20,000 had he won. It just doesn’t make business sense to pay preliminary fighters these relatively high salaries.

WSOF will be out of business in less than a year if continues to flub on live TV and doesn’t manage its expenses like a business should.

posted by JoshuaM @ 1:00 pm

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